SpaceX launches Starship V3 for the first time, but loses power on return

SpaceX has launched the third version of its Starship rocket for the first time, although the test did not go well for Elon Musk’s spaceflight company.

The 407-foot rocket – the most powerful ever built – took off from the SpaceX company in Starbase, Texas, at 5:30 pm local time. A few minutes later, the space shuttle separated from the Super Heavy booster and continued into space.

The booster left the Starship vehicle and returned to Earth, where it was supposed to make a simulated landing in the Gulf of Mexico. But the booster engines didn’t fire properly in the continuous burn that was supposed to bring them back to the launch pad. The booster then fell into the water, where it must have exploded.

The Starship, meanwhile, lost one of its six Raptor engines as it ascended into space. The ship was still on its way to the Indian Ocean at the time of publication.

Although it didn’t go exactly according to plan, this was an important experiment for SpaceX. It was the first real shakedown of the Starship V3 upgrade kit, which has been in the works for months. The company was also testing a new launcher at Starbase that it had been developing and building for years.

The launch of the test also comes at the starting point of SpaceX’s history as a company. His The publication of the IPO it was announced this week, and SpaceX is expected to list on the Nasdaq in mid-June. The IPO is supposed to raise about $75 billion for SpaceX, which the company plans to use to boost development, big AI ambitions, and pay off some debt related to xAI and Musk’s X company.

SpaceX has spent years and billions of dollars developing Starship, which it sees as essential to its goal of creating life on many planets. The company plans to use Starship for NASA missions to the moon, and eventually Mars. But the biggest task that needs to be done in the near future is to put the high-performance Starlink satellites into Earth orbit, since Starlink is the only profitable part of SpaceX’s business.

This was the first Starship flight since October 2025. SpaceX had planned to launch the Starship V3 earlier, but one of the boosters. he exploded on trial in November. SpaceX made its first test on Thursday but had to delay it when a hydraulic pin on the arm of the launch platform refused to retract, according to Musk.

This new version of the Starship is equipped with SpaceX’s third-generation Raptor engines, which has an impressive and simple design. The new booster was designed for quick take off and easy handling with the launch platform.